Deer in small woodlots

[Blizzard Ridge]

Ok guys I am working on my theory here and am curious to what others take is on the subject. I am located in farm country Illinois. Sometimes you can drive two or three miles and not see a tree when you get a few miles north of me. I have been blessed to harvest some good deer that some would call giants. I see a lot of guys on here talk about killing their big bucks in timber, I am assuming these folks are in heavily wooded parts of the country.
Here is what I have found in my part of the world. I have killed every one of my deer that are in the big old category in fence rows or very small woodlots of 10 acres or less. Also, every deer in the 170"+ category was taken on the edges of these small lots within 40 yards of the field edge just on the outside edge of the thickest parts of the fence row or small woodlot. This has been the tried and true way I have the opportunity to take a big old mature buck every season. That does not mean that I go ahead and kill the buck but the opportunity is there and I may pass at that given time. These big mature bucks will be in these areas every year around the same time give or take a few days.

I have a fence row that I have used as a stand by that I may only hunt once in a season and usually when the woods hunting has become frustrating. I will go to this fence row and typically can hunt this spot one sit and take a 150" or better buck in that sit. This same fence row has produced a 172", 156" - 9 point, and two other low 50's 10 points. I have let numerous bucks walk in the mid 40's - mid 60's area and hunted a deer that would push the 200" mark in this same stand.

So that being said what would everyone's theory be on why big mature bucks can be killed in these areas every year, yet for folks hunting bigger timber areas around my parts very few big mature deer are killed in them? I honestly have never killed a deer over 150" inside the timber and have had very few sightings of big mature deer in big timber. This is a question I have often asked myself. I have a ton of the type of ground I am talking about. I have not found the right approach to convince hunting clients and out of state hunting buddies that if they want the chance to kill a giant these are the places to hunt. Yes you can have terribly boring hunts along the way because you will not see huge numbers of deer unless they are across a field feeding somewhere in the vicinity of you. But, when you do see a buck it will be a good one typically. Thanks I am just curious on everyone's thoughts. I do have my big boy pants on so feel free to argue my theory as well. I can then show you numerous examples of why I feel this theory is correct.

 

[OkieKubota]

You said it all in your first paragraph...
Deer in open areas here are dead before they get any age on them regardless of time of year. If they show up in August in an opening they are shot...Deer learn over time what is safe and what is not. Extremely low pressure on the spot you are mentioning is how it will keep producing. Pressure in our area is very high and every buck that walked through that scenario you mention would be shot by rifle regardless of season therefore the deer in our area have evolved into deep timber and night time open area ghost... I like it this way because I get chances at some true giants in the woods while the guys in the fields are plugging does and dinks...

I have never killed a big buck in any opening including a food plot...I have never shot more than 75 yards through the woods at any deer with a firearm and most shots with any weapon are under 30...

 

[Blizzard Ridge]

I agree with you Okie. I would say the problem in your area is rifle seasons. With us just have a 3 day and 4 day shotgun season and shotguns being used people just can't reach out across fields to shoot deer around here. Which is probably the reason these bucks hole up in brushy fence rows that time of year and stay out of the woods. Ours is kind of an opposite scenario then what you have. I also have never shot a giant buck in a food plot our deer do not hit the plots until dark but they do hang on those brushy edges I am speaking of watching the plots until dark.

 

[Gator]

Because sitting on a funnel is the best place to sit those times of the year. And big open farm ground with tiny fence rows as the only cover, make one hell of a funnel.

 

[OkieKubota]

I agree with you Okie. I would say the problem in your area is rifle seasons. With us just have a 3 day and 4 day shotgun season and shotguns being used people just can't reach out across fields to shoot deer around here. Which is probably the reason these bucks hole up in brushy fence rows that time of year and stay out of the woods. Ours is kind of an opposite scenario then what you have. I also have never shot a giant buck in a food plot our deer do not hit the plots until dark but they do hang on those brushy edges I am speaking of watching the plots until dark.

Having said that about food plots the morning of November 20th I wish I had been sitting on our south plot with my rifle as I had the largest buck I had ever gotten on camera and a true stranger to our property come into it because does were on the plot at 7:30 AM...but alas I was about 200 yards away looking for the big buck I shot the evening before which I never found even with the assistance of Brushpile...

 

[Blizzard Ridge]

Okie that seems about typical. Story of my life too. If I am hunting a big one at one farm you guarantee the other that I am hunting just walked past a camera on a different farm.

 

[Chainsaw]

Blizzard, yours is an interesting observation. I have learned of no places on the property to see a 150 or above;they may be there but I have not found them. With that said we do have some small wooded sections that our better bucks seem to spend a lot of time in. Walking across an open field to get to those small wood lots likely scares them out whereas walking to a fence row doesn't spook any deer because none are usually there. And as Gator mentioned, it makes sense that a fence row would be a great funnel on the days the bucks are going from wood lot to wood lot. Back to the ten acre lots it isn't surprising that the deer would be shot on the edge of them; there would be the only chance one might have of sneaking in without spooking them out of the woodlot or at least putting them on alert if none happened to be on those edges at that time of entering such (using good wind directions of course).

Maybe we all should be posting cameras on our fence rows that might act as funnels without us currently even knowing about it. To date as with Okie, most of the deer here are shot in very tight places and we do not sit in any fence row style funnels. it is simply assumed that doesn't work here BUT maybe it does on those certain days.

 

[Blizzard Ridge]

Chainsaw I would venture to guess if you don't have an area that is over hunted that bucks would use these same type of funnels. Our deer here can be caught on a camera on one farm and then the next day 3 miles away be caught on camera travelling through a different farm. Here it doesn't have to be the rut for deer to use these fence rows and small patches. I had a large buck on a farm that I would bump every time I went in from the west. He would bed up not 100 yards from the road in a little drainage 400 yards from the timber. I had 4 cameras running all year starting in July in and around the timber and never had this deer's picture. This told me this deer stayed in his little brushy ditch all day and moved across open fields in the night never going through the timber unless he was very good at avoiding camera's.

 

[Chainsaw]

Chainsaw I would venture to guess if you don't have an area that is over hunted that bucks would use these same type of funnels. Our deer here can be caught on a camera on one farm and then the next day 3 miles away be caught on camera travelling through a different farm. Here it doesn't have to be the rut for deer to use these fence rows and small patches. I had a large buck on a farm that I would bump every time I went in from the west. He would bed up not 100 yards from the road in a little drainage 400 yards from the timber. I had 4 cameras running all year starting in July in and around the timber and never had this deer's picture. This told me this deer stayed in his little brushy ditch all day and moved across open fields in the night never going through the timber unless he was very good at avoiding camera's.

That is very interesting that they use the fence rows even in a non-rut mode. My property lines are walked regularly by me but the rest of the property is very low pressure. The area though is a different story; people drive around with their rifles in their cars hunting, others may have five guys hunting on 30 acres, others have organized drives with up to ten or fifteen people involved and the rifle season is 6 1/4 consecutive weeks long preceded and followed additional week long muzzle loader seasons which makes for 8 1/4 consecutive gun seasons and like Okie said the deer had better not be seen by some "hunters" in the open before the season or even after.

It is amazing that pictures are taken of the same deer three miles apart in two days. Would that be night time pictures or daytime pictures? I'm wondering do they have a home base for daylight use and then travel three miles out for the evening to return to the day base or are they actually changing their day base by three miles from day to day?

 

[swat1018]

Our part of the world is a patchwork of small wood lots connected by fence rows. Unfortunately, both are being torn out at an alarming rate. When hunting is prime, these bucks work the downwind edges of the woodlots hunting out estrous does, and use the fence rows, as it's the only cover between that woodlot and the next. I've seen many a big buck that lives all summer in a little wet hole in a bean field. Literally, watched 2 150-160" bucks live in a half acre of willows and brush in a middle of a bean field one summer. They had cover, water, food, and they were off the beaten path out in the middle of 80 acres of beans. They could also see anything coming for 1/4 to 1/2 mile. A big buck really doesn't need much, especially in the summer.

 

[Native Hunter]

I call this fence row "The Expressway." It connects a 20 acre woodlot that is an island from other woods to several other different habitat features.

I call the hole I cut in the fence that's visible from my stand "The Exit Ramp."

 

[dogghr]

Deer are unique and the same no matter where you hunt them. Besides food, obviously they look for safety and sex. I've hunted your country Blizzard and it is a diff deer than my home turf. As you said, weapon choice is a restriction. Second, pressure is non existent compared to what many of us see. On one hunt there, I took my buck first morning, so I spent rest of days driving country. Repeatedly I watched 150 class deer in middle of fields. They simply didn't understand the danger. No way, would that occur here regularly, and then it would be on the tail of a hot doe.
As for your fence line. This is redundant, but deer love edge, especially where safety, ability to scent ck for sex, and simply the inherent knowledge that it is a safe highway from one point to another. These intersections of edge are magnets and I think realized more by those that hunt true big wood deer as these are the honey holes for years. I could give multiple examples but this would become a book.
I've hunted Canada in what was hundreds of sq miles of forests with virtually no openings. To succeed, you had to be very observant of edges involving the typography and plants. It was not much different than hunting here, but for some I would talk to, it was overwhelming as they had never hunted those conditions. As anywhere, the bucks simply seeked areas of differential edge that also was attractant for does, and they could downwind scent ck without any real exposure to danger. The last buck I shot there did just that. Even tho younger 4-5 yo bucks had exposed themselves in a small forest opening, this buck hung on the downwind edge in thicket almost too thick to shoot into. And he didn't hang around but just long enough to look for hot doe, and then began to continue his bar hopping.
Your honey hole is the same. The bucks cruise that edge, maybe a combination of more factors than a human can visualize, do so in relative safety, ck for does, feed a little, and continue with his bar hopping looking for love. You are lucky.

 

[OkieKubota]

Years ago before we had our full time group on the deer lease we have now the lease holder would advertise in the OKC paper...we had several guys come out to look it over to hunt and we would show them around with them looking lost the entire time! At the end of the tour they would decline because they had no idea how to hunt it... they wanted box blinds and wide open areas with feeders and food plots...big woods is a different animal than the wide open wheat field country out west...

I hunted 2 years out near Clinton Oklahoma for doe/antlerless only on a friend of mines places...we hunted the same type stuff the OP spoke of in the first post and we also hunted drainage ditches because these were the only areas with trees. The hunting was easy for a guy who had never hunted that kind of country but when my friend came to hunt our area in reciprocation he was lost so I set him up...he was amazed at all the trees!

Solid forest even without logging/cutting still has edge especially if it has terrain as well...

 

[HuntMeister]

Ok Blizz, even though I am not a great conversationalist (is that even a real word?), I'll bite.
I love discussions like this where I can hopefully learn something valuable and so I really appreciate this thread and all who contribute!
As you know, I am that guy that gets hung up on needing a decent size chunk of timber around me / to hunt in. I guess I just feel like I need that timber to hold some deer...during the rut maybe these deer will lure in Mr. Big if he is not already living there. I enjoy the challenge of trying to figure out the right locations where the big bucks will pass through on a large area. I have had some luck and have killed a couple of, what I consider to be mature bucks, in the bigger timber but like everyone, I sure would like to increase my success on even older and larger bucks...especially since there is less time in front of my cart than behind it for deer hunting.
Maybe I should change my way of thinking.
Can you expand on your thoughts with what times of the season you find your small lots, fence rows and such to be effective?
While I'm not from Missouri, I am a visual learner so please show me, would it be possible for you to post up some aerials of these areas that you have had success with some explanations of what / how you believe the big bucks are using the areas so we can discuss and learn?

 

[Blizzard Ridge]

Great discussion guys. I agree with most everyone's theories. I think it is a combination of what everyone is talking about. Here in farm country these deer can hole up in these small wood lots or fence rows and can see forever around it. These bucks use these areas year around. In my experience I typically have encounters with more mature bucks in these areas than I do the younger bucks. It is like the older bucks stake their claim on these locations. HuntMeister I will post up some pictures of some of an aerial and some scout camera pictures from throughout the year kind of showing my point. I have needed a good hunting thread going and you guys are holding true to what I was looking for. Thank you for all the comments.

 

[Blizzard Ridge]

Huntmeister here is an aerial of one these type locations that most people overlook. This is toward the bigger side of what I am talking about. Most of the places I have are even smaller and more isolated than this one. If I got the pictures posted up correctly there should be pictures from July to after season was out.

 

[Blizzard Ridge]

Swat I agree these beautiful funnels are disappearing at an alarming rate. Farmers trying to grab that extra acre of ground will take out these fence rows. Really doesn't gain them much but I guess it saves them some side trimming to do in the winter and spring months.

Native that is a perfect example of what we are talking about. So many people overlook areas like this. Folks think they have to be smack dab in the middle of the biggest patch of timber they can find to kill a big buck. This just is not the case in our area. Will you see bigger numbers of deer? Absolutely. But to me it is like hunting a big deer on a food plot, can it happen? Sure. But more unlikely than sitting in one of these perfect funnel patches. To me if I was paying for a once in a lifetime hunt or paying for a hunt on a yearly basis I would much rather be in the area that has the highest percentage of payoff. Doesn't mean it will happen but the odds are considerably higher if you sit in an area that funnels deer past you over sitting in a 80 acre woods hoping he cuts down the right trail.

Dogghr you hit the nail on the head it is all about edges. Whether in big woods or farm country, edge is edge and deer are creatures of the edges.

 

[Weasel]

Interesting discussion. I have a 5 acre sanctuary that is thicker than heck and the one time per year I go in there it's tore up with rubs, trails and beds. It's part of a contiguous 50+ acre area of the same stuff but I only own 5 acres of it. The area between this and the rest of my property is old, open field about 5 acres also. It grows thick goldenrod each year but it's not great cover. I'll be planting some switchgrass this year connecting that thicket across the field to my woods in hopes that the deer will start crossing there. I do get a few mature buck cutting across the field in November in daylight but they're few and far between.

 

[Brushpile]

Having said that about food plots the morning of November 20th I wish I had been sitting on our south plot with my rifle as I had the largest buck I had ever gotten on camera and a true stranger to our property come into it because does were on the plot at 7:30 AM...but alas I was about 200 yards away looking for the big buck I shot the evening before which I never found even with the assistance of Brushpile...

I am still upset about not finding that buck, hence Rowdy, Heidi and female out in PA. I would love to know what happened to that buck!

 

[OkieKubota]

I am still upset about not finding that buck, hence Rowdy, Heidi and female out in PA. I would love to know what happened to that buck!

Me too Brad...I have looked more and still have not given up...